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Here's the skinny for today's home buyer, in it's simplist form without the use of any scripts. Also, first time buyers need to realize that utility expenses are not figured into your loan qualification. Your lender will figure in your total monthly mortgage payment, taxes and homeowners insurance but not utilities and miscellaneous expenses which usually amount to over $200.00 dollars per month. We recommend getting on a monthly budget for your utilities to make it easier to manage your expenses. Here are some other tips we believe in: Tip #1: Do Your Homework
The key step in buying a home is doing the proper research and this website will help you in that respect. Educate yourself on local schools, neighborhoods and the kind of homes available in each of your search areas. This website can help you put together your idea of the perfect home. For information on your search area, go to www.city-data.com. Tip #2: Get Pre-Qualified
Getting prequalified for a loan normally only requires a short phone conversation with a lender and this can greatly help your home search. Prequalification does not guarantee you a loan, but it does provide you with an estimated monthly payment and a price range to use as a guide when shopping for a home. We reccommend keeping your search below your qualified purchase price so you're not strangled every month to budget your finances. If you find out that you don't qualify then this also gives you the opportunity to find out what you need to do to qualify for a loan and the timeframe it came be accomplished in. It's been our policy not to take out clients until we see their qualification, basically because of tip # 3 and the other reason is to sit down with you to calculate your monthly expenses based on the information your lender provided to you. Tip #3: Shop Around for Your Mortgage
Deciding on the financing for your home can be as important as choosing a home itself. FHA and Conventional Loans have different guidelines, both offering a fixed rate mortgage or an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). There are benefits for each type of these loans and we want to make sure that you're receiving the opportunity to view each of these options. Mortgage Bankers and Mortgage Brokers are two different entities and this is reason enough to explore your mortgage options. We highly recommend your shopping for the best deal. Tip #4: Know what you want from the beginning
Settle on the home features that are important to you (covered parking, hardwood floors, architectural style, etc.) and make a prioritized list. You'll have an easier time finding the "PERFECT HOME" if you know what is "NEEDED" verses what is "WANTED"* Having a well established guideline will help narrow down your search and will prevent us from showing you properties that lack the key amenities you're searching for. This website has a search feature that allows you to filter thousands of listings based on attributes that you select. If you know you want a brick house with gas heat and a garage, you can get the results you’re looking for. The smart buyer in this market buyers what he or she needs, not wants* Tip #5: Start Viewing Properties
If you've done your homework by this tip then you already have some homes to see, you've shopped your mortgage and you've been pre-qualified by a Mortgage Lender or a Mortgage Banker. Now let's set up some showings* You don't want to see more than 3 homes at a time because it will get confusing. We'll provide you a clipboard and the MLS printout of the listings you've chosen so you can keep notes on each property. You'll be able to eliminate certain properties after several times out and want to view the ones you like a second time before making a decision. This is the right process to finding the "PERFECT HOME"* Tip #6: Make An Offer
You've seen a dozen or so homes by now and you've made a decision on one property, or you may be undecided between two properties you've seen. We will suggest going back to our office to write the offer, this way we can immediately fax it to the other party and give you copies of every document we sign right there and then. Before we write the offer we'll find the area value of those particular homes you are considering. We do this by searching the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for recent closed properties in that area. Of course we aren't appraisers but this can give you some guidance on the type of offer you might like to move forward with. It's a waiting game once we submit the offer to the other party, and you can probably expect a counter offer from the other party unless you've submitted a full price offer on the property. Tip #7: Make your "POST ACCEPTANCE" Decisions
There are contract deadlines involved once you and the seller have reached an agreement. You'll have a window of 5 to 10 days for an Attorney to review the contract depending on what contract the offer was written on. You'll also have a window of 5 to 10 days to do a home inspection on the property. Both of these deadlines are important because of the protection it gives you. A less-than-favorable home inspection report gives you an opportunity to walk away from the contract without a penality; hidden defects, for an example, may be discovered by the home inspector but unknown to us, yourself and even the homeowner. Part of the attorney review is reviewing the home inspection, itself, as well as other areas of the contract that he may want to take a closer look at. We highly recommend the use of an attorney and home inspector. TIP # 8: Plan Your Move In most cases the buyer will have 30 to 45 days to plan their move once the contract is signed by both parties. Searching for movers should be on your list of things to do, or rental companies if you're moving on your own. Of course packing is a high priority but setting up deliveries of new furniture or appliances is important as well. You'll also need to make a note for yourself to change over utility services and cable service before moving into your new home. The call to transfer these services or set up a new service should be made 10 days before closing and confirmed 2 days before moving in. Actual meter readings have to be preformed and this is more important than most buyers realize, plus it's too much of a headache if it's done at the last minute.
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